Nurses are entrusted with many complicated and important responsibilities. They provide medical care to the sick and injured, and provide emotional support to the sick and their families. Nurses must keep detailed chart notes, conduct basic lab tests, and in certain cases, may prescribe medicine. The field of nursing involves advanced medical coursework as well as specialty experience.

Types of Nursing

There are many different types of nurses and specialties of practice. All nursing requires a passion for helping others, a detail-oriented work ethic and confidence in stressful situations. Generally, nursing fall into three basic categories:

• Licensed Practical Nurse
  Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) must have a high school diploma, and have earned an LPN certificate, which typically takes 1 year to complete. Community colleges and online nursing schools provide this education. LPN training is very practical in nature, including giving injections, bathing patients, providing emotional support and assisting doctors.
• Registered Nurse
  Registered nurses (RNs) typically hold a bachelor’s degree including two years of nursing science education. With their higher education come advanced responsibilities; RNs work on more complicated procedures and assist at a higher level. RNs may administer medication, assist in treatment plans, develop nursing care plans, and educate patients and families about health issues.
• Nurse Practitioner
  A nurse practitioner is an RN who has completed additional courses in order to function as a doctor. They take on additional duties in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, and in many states they may write prescriptions. At the advanced level, nurse practitioners provide basic primary health care, diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries as a doctor would.

Nursing School

All nurses must attend specific training in order to meet state qualified standards for the nursing profession. LPN courses are practical in nature, providing hands-on skills, while RN courses have both applied and theoretical work. Some common courses for both LPN and RN programs include:

• Anatomy and Physiology
• Essentials of Medicine
• Essential Nursing Concepts
• Applications: Health Assessments

Some courses specific to the RN program include:

• Pharmacology
• Pathophysiology
• Probability and Statistics
• Ethical Issues in Nursing

Nursing Career Opportunities

Qualified nurses have a variety of career opportunities available to them. As the nursing population ages and the health care environment dramatically changes, the need for qualified nurses is rapidly increasing. Nursing careers are growing at a far faster than average rate. Some nursing jobs include:

• Nurse Midwife: Nurse midwives practice the obstetrical and gynecological care of pregnant women, including prenatal care, delivery, and infant care after birth.
• Home Health Nurse: Home health nurses are RNs who provide periodic services to patients at home. They may travel to a patient’s home from their hospital of employment, or they may work for a home health care facility or outpatient center.
• Emergency Nurse: Emergency nurses specialize in rapid assessment and treatment when every second counts, particularly during the initial phase of acute illness and trauma.